If you’re a user of Google Play Music, you probably know that you can store your own music on Google’s servers for streaming from your various devices, but now Google has announced that the amount of songs that you can store for free has been increased, up to 50,000 songs from 20,000. While many of Google’s competitors charge for this kind of service, Google has long offered the ability to store several thousand songs for free—and now they’re upping the limit.

As was revealed this morning, Apple is planning to deeply integrate the existing Beats technologies into its existing platforms (like iTunes and iOS), and offer its own Apple-branded streaming service for $7.99 per month. But the Cupertino company also has plans to build its own Android app for the service, marking the first time Apple has built an Android application entirely in-house.

Google’s Chief Business Officer Omid Kordenstani gave several updates on the status of the company’s $35 Chromecast streaming device during the this evening’s Q4 2014 earnings call. Kordenstani first stated that users have “casted” content to their television more than one billion times. The company says that this is a huge milestone for the streaming stick and the implementation of the Cast functionality in a variety of different apps.

With Google-owned YouTube recently launching its own streaming music platform, it seems that Google is poised to provide a solid challenge to others in the streaming space, like Apple’s iTunes Radio and Beats Music services.

Now the market is about to get a little more crowded as an even newer competitor prepares to enter the fray. Audio hardware manufacturer Bose is reportedly planning to launch a direct competitor to Google’s streaming services. The information comes from a job listing posted by the speaker manufacturer.

Google announced today that it has started rolling out support for offline video playback in the YouTube Android app for three countries: India, Indonesia, and the Philippines. The company says that the goal is to help work around limited access to high-speed internet connections.

The new mode will allow many videos to be cached directly on the phone for up to 48 hours in order to be played back later. Users will have the option of selecting what resolution they’d like to cache to make the process as efficient as possible.

Mozilla, the company behind the Firefox web browser, is working on a stream stick set to directly compete with Google’s Chromecast and other similar products, according to GigaOm. The device runs Mozilla’s own Firefox OS, originally designed for smartphones, and is apparently referred to as “Netcast” within the Firefox browser.

Unlike Google’s current offering, the Netcast would allow developers to integrate the technology into applications on a wide variety of operating systems and hardware devices, including many platforms not currently supported by the Chromecast. In a statement to GigaOm, Mozilla noted that anyone is welcome to work with Firefox OS and that hardware running that system does not necessarily have to come from that company.

Update: The Moto Stream is now live on Motorola’s website. It costs $49, uses Bluetooth and NFC technology to connect to devices, charges over USB, and has a 3.5mm to RCA connector for audio. Motorola also provides a bit more insight into this “DJ experience” it hinted at by describing a software feature called Heist Mode: Read more

Google made a big announcement today for new content arriving for users of its $35 Chromecast HDMI streaming stick. The latest additions to the lineup include the WatchESPN app, Major League Soccer via the MLS Matchday app and MLS LIVE premium services, photos and video from Google+ apps, as well as TV and video content from the Crunchyroll video service: Read more

When Google announced the Chromecast last year, we knew that the search giant’s media stick would be used to stream a widevariety of media types. So it’s no surprise that one of the adult entertainment industry’s biggest players has adopted support for the company’s budding new platform. The MindGeek-owned operation PornHub now offers Chromecast as a streaming option from its mobile website when visiting it from Chrome for Android.

Earlier this month, ClockworkMod previewed an app that would let Fire TV users stream a video’s soundtrack through their Android device, allowing them to watch content with a private audio feed. Today, the company has officially released this new software to Google Play, along with an updated AllCast app. When paired together, users can cast pictures, videos and music from their Android devices to their TV via a smorgasbord of platforms, including OUYA, Fire TV, Roku, Xbox 360 and even Apple TV. If you’re looking to add to some new weapons to your media streaming arsenal, these two free apps are definitely worth the storage space.

Variety reports that Google has reached a deal to acquire the video game streaming platform Twitch for $1 billion. The move could provide YouTube with the resources to bolster its current live streaming platform, which doesn’t seem to be all that popular among its users. The entire amount will be offered in cash, according to the report.

Twitch has the distinct benefit of being the only live streaming platform built directly into both Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony’s PlayStation 4 consoles. A YouTube buyout would essentially bring all of those next-gen streaming customers to YouTube’s platform, along with the countless users already streaming PC games.